Hunting Partners
by docturlough
Summary: Samus Aran and Boba Fett are both hired to hunt the same bounty, a group of saboteur pirates. Will they destroy each other on the way, or will they work together to a common end?
1. Chapter 1

The ship was custom-made. It was built by Jin Treeda, their Trandoshan engineer. The main body was shaped like a flattened shovel-head, with three 7-foot vertical cylinders slotted into it. It was built for speed and interception, but contained a fair amount of weaponry, too. It was the perfect ship for piracy.

In the three cylinders would sit the main crew of the ship, in the first was their leader, Dans Monday, a bearded, scarred human with a hard look in his eye. The first cylinder also contained the ships controls and computers, which Monday controlled.

In the second cylinder was Kalc Commerse, a Sullustan, controlling all the bombs and charges the ship contained. And in the third cylinder, controlling the blasters and weapons of his ship, sat Treeda himself.

Two Star Destroyers, the _Hangman _and the _Rancor _were en route to Tatooine, flanked by a squadron of TIE fighters, for the delivery of troops and equipment; they were approaching the east of the planet, their landing point being on the west, when one of the TIE fighters exploded and the pirates' ship burst through the flames. Moving impossibly fast, the pirate ship glided across the surface of the _Hangman_, Commerse letting their entire stock of bombs dot the hard metal ship. Explosions scrolled across, leaving a trail of fire behind them. Inside the _Rancor, _Commander Ves watched their sister ship under attack, before a bumbling new recruit raced to the bridge to tell him what he already knew.

"The _Hangman_ is under attack, Sir." The cadet panted.

"Rebels?" Ves asked simply, his flat, emotionless voice striking fear into his inferior's heart.

"I- I don't know" The boy stammered.

_Of course not, _Ves thought, _I honestly don't know how I keep getting these idiots, _Ves pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes, and he had already made his decision as soon as the attack began, but he needed a moment of peace.

"Destroy The _Hangman_. Take out their thrusters." Ves laid out. The cadet actually took a step back.

"Sir, are you-"

"Yes, I'm sure, Cadet! We cannot allow that ship or its contents to be taken! Now destroy it!"

Monday knew exactly how Ves would react, his cold heart was legendary. The captain programmed in the coordinates for the ship just as the green blasts cracked through the dark space and took half of the _Hangman's _thrusters off. Monday didn't even flinch as he pulled the lever on the wall of his pod and it detached from the main body. His associates followed suit, just as the main body of the ship cascaded into the communications tower for the Star Destroyer, breaking the equipment within. The pods clanged on the body of the _Hangman, _and Commerse pressed a button inside his pod, as per the plan. Three circles of light and heat hummed to life on the bas of his pod, as he, within it, pulled a flamethrower off the wall. When the timer Treeda had set up for him reached zero, Commerse kicked the floor of his cylinder, hard.

The floor beneath him and the ceiling of the corridor below that broke loose and clattered to the floor, while Commerce held onto the inside of his pod. From the hallway below, he could hear footsteps, Stormtrooper armour on the polished floors, he was sure. Commerse positioned the flamethrower awkwardly, so that it was now pointed below him, just as he heard the Stormtroopers footsteps got a little too close. Suddenly, before the two soldiers very eyes, the hallway flooded with fire spewed from the mouth of opening on the ceiling, their armour proved useless and they were boiled alive.

Commerse dropped into the sanitized corridor and lifted one of the Stormtrooper's weapons. As he crouched there, awaiting an attack, molten circles of the ceiling crashed to the ground, not long before his associates followed them. Monday observed his work and his preservation of the Stormtrooper armour, and commended him on it. Treeda took the second Stormtroopers weapon, but left the pistol in its holster as Monday dragged the corpse away, and into a small closet. When he remerged, he was wearing the deceased Stormtrooper's armour, but not his helmet. He looked at his two friends, and suddenly became all business.

"Okay guys, do you know what's next?" He barked.

"Yes, Captain Monday." They chorused back, a light hint of mockery in their voices.

Monday picked up on it, and a smirk played on his lips for a split-second, before disappearing without a trace.

"Alright. Jin, how long do we have before we crash?"

Treeda took his Holoprojector out of his pocket and turned it on, a clock counted down worryingly quickly.

"Seven minutes." Treeda hissed in his reptilian voice.

"Got your Holoprojector, Kalc?" Monday quizzed Commerse.

"Yep!" Commerse exclaimed with a confidence he didn't have until he patted his pocket without Monday noticing.

"Good," Monday said, his voice gradually building in energy, "Follow the maps to the bay, don't let anyone escape, but leave one of the ships for me."

"Gotcha!" Treeda growled, not with any malice, it was just how he talked.

Monday pulled the suffocating helmet over his head and ran down a parallel corridor, while Treeda and Commerse headed down the one they were already on.

After a minute or two of jogging, they came to the elevator that would lead to the hangar. Two Imperial agents were waiting for the same elevator, probably for the same purpose. Commerse fired on one of them, killing him instantly, but Treeda, always the sadist, closed the distance between him and the remaining trooper before it had even registered in the officer's head that his partner had been shot. The trooper raised his weapon to fire, but Treeda flipped his over in his hand and batted the officer's hand away, then shot towards the space between his armour plates, his exposed neck. He bit hard, and the trooper's blood shot into the air. Treeda kneed the Stormtrooper in the stomach and he keeled over, clutching at his bleeding neck. The Stormtrooper gripped for his fallen blaster, but before he could muster the strength to lift it, he succumbed to his injuries and collapsed. There was an electronic beep and the elevator beside Treeda opened. Inside were two Imperial troops, black helmets covering the back of their heads, but not the front. Treeda made note of this as he kicked a fallen blaster into his hand and threw it forward like a spear. His alien strength broke the nose of the trooper facing him, while the second raised his blaster to kill the reptilian monster. Before he could fire, a red bolt buried itself into his chest, and he collapsed in agony. Treeda growled in surprise, until Commerse appeared at his side.

"You know," the Sullustan stated matter-of-factly, "Not everyone is dinner."

Treeda moved like a lizard, darting around until he faced his accomplice, his bloody face only inches from his folded one.

"If you ever steal my kill again, Kalc, _you_ will be." The Trandoshan threatened. A low click rang out in his alien ears, but was too faint to alert Commerse. Jin spun before the soldier with the broken nose fired, and sent a kick that moved so fast it blurred into his ribs, caving them in on his heart. The trooper sagged, his weapon clanging on the ground as his arm dropped. Treeda and Commerse stepped into the elevator with the two corpses, and Treeda bent down to pick up his blaster. He stood back up with it in his hands, and roughly shot his forearm across his bloody snout. Then stood, facing outwards.

"You missed a spot." Commerse smiled.

While Treeda and Commerse descended, Monday raced across the ship to reach the bridge. The blast doors opened in front of him, and the sight the beheld within made his scarred face curl up in a smile. Fires burned and copses la strewn wantonly across the red-streaked floor, two or three people, including the lean, young Commander Hawdett, were attempting to hold order, shouting into microphones and pulling levers back.

"What's going on?" Monday feigned ignorance.

"The whole ship's going crazy!" Hawdett screamed frantically, "Communications are down, thrusters are at 20% capacity and people are evacuating despite my orders!" His head darted to the loudspeaker microphone then. "Get back here, you traitors, The Emperor will have your heads!"

"Can you control the point of impact?" Monday inquired, calm despite the urgency of the situation.

"Yes, but what good would that do us, you dolt?" Hawdett snapped, before a blast from Monday's blaster made him crumble to the floor. Monday gripped the controls fiercely and tapped on the keyboard, one by one, the podiums on which the survivors were controlling the ship shut down, until only Monday could direct the falling behemoth.

"Sorry, friends, but this _is _piracy!" Monday grinned, jerking the control stick to one side fiercely. Aiming for the western most point on Tatooine.

Monday never had anything against the Empire, but someone he did have something against was Hydrodeemus Drax. Drax and Monday were drinking in a little Cantina just outside of Mos Espa one day, and Drax had a little too much to drink and threw Monday over the bar. When Monday stood, Drax broke a bottle of Yavin whiskey over his face. The skin of his face receded into the cuts, scarring him instantly, and the high-alcohol content turned his left eye pure white. Monday knew little about Drax, but from what he did know, Drax moved to the West side of Tatooine, because there was more moisture out there to farm. He also knew that Drax was off-planet right now, and that his wife and young son were watching over the family business. Monday figured a Nuclear reaction, such as the core of a Star Destroyer blowing up, would dry out the land for miles around and kill Drax's family instantly, making him live the rest f his life with scars even _deeper_ than the one's Monday was forced to live with.

Treeda and Commerse raced into the hangar bay just as a group of survivors were boarding a transport. Treeda threw a Thermal Detonator onto the ship just as the blast doors closed, and Commerse took out a Stormtrooper boarding his TIE fighter. Again, Treeda used the more violent method of waiting by the fighter Commerse took from the dead guard for a second guard to appear, whom he then gripped by the throat, tore the helmet and life support pack off of and threw out of the ship, into the endless vacuum of space. Commerse and Treeda both donned the TIE pilots helmets and boarded the TIE fighters, before flying out of the hangar, turning in mid air and destroying all other transports in the bay, save one TIE fighter. At that exact moment, Monday, in his Stormtrooper armour, but with his helmet thrown away, ran into the hangar and frantically boarded the remaining TIE fighter, picking a new helmet up off the floor, to keep him alive in space. The TIE fighter screeched to life as he left the hangar and the _Hangman_ to its doom.

A month later, Hydrodeemus Drax was still off-planet in grief, and the empire was in a rage over simple pirates hijacking one of their ships. A golden ship with green windows circled down to the surface, glimmering in the Tatooine sunlight. When it landed, a Bounty Hunter in red and gold battle-armour stepped out. The sunlight shone brightly in her green visor, so she removed her helmet, and walked into the Mos Eisley Cantina.

All heads turned to see the beautiful blonde in the deadly armour as she sauntered in, pulled up a bar stool and ordered a glass of Endorian wine. And somewhere in the dank, dark back booths, a scarred human sank in his seat. _This Bounty Hunter is here for me._


	2. Chapter 2

She rolled every mouthful of wine across her tongue, through her teeth, experiencing it. In her spare time, she was an amateur wine connoisseur, but she didn't have a lot of spare time these days. She was here on business, three saboteurs and murderers. One was definitely here, on Tatooine. A very reliable source had given her the information, her and every other Bounty Hunter who would listen.

Monday's fingers played across the blaster strapped to his thigh. He was a strategic genius at times, but not when under duress like this. He couldn't think well while sweating. Green energy pulsated in the spaces in between her armour plates, possibly a personal force-field. She had her helmet off, and a little piece of a blue suit she was wearing underneath her armour climbed from under the copper plates to her chin. Her head was completely uncovered, the blonde hair tied back in a single ponytail. He stood slowly, the music of Figrin D'an covering any noise he made as he pulled his blaster from its holster and pointed it square at the back of the Hunter's head.

Samus was trained to notice everything. And when a small portion of the bar went quiet, her interest was piqued. It was right behind her, and as she had not heard any shouts, it couldn't be a fight. She heard the low, building whine of a blaster before firing, and she acted fast. She tapped the button on her emerald weapon-gauntlet, and the flowing energy beneath her armour turned sky blue. She spun and fired at the same time, and an ice pellet hit Monday's weapon. He felt a slight tickle in the split second that the ice spread across his hand, then a biting pain. He let out a yell, and his knees buckled. He was already running out the door by the time Samus had grabbed her helmet.

When Monday broke into the Tatooine summer, he instantly felt the ice melting. There was an empty clearing between the Cantina and the nearest alley, and Monday had just barely reached the halfway point when Samus caught up with him, and as soon as he felt her iron grip on his vest, Monday twisted in midair, his frozen hand flailing wildly. He got lucky and hit Samus across the face by surprise, the ice shattering on impact. Samus lost her footing and stumbled, but Monday ran even faster, firing blindly behind him. Samus was now at full alert, and when she saw the blasts heading towards her, her blood ran cold and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Her Varia armour reacted to her body, and threw up a force-field around itself. By the time the last shot faded into the field, Samus was running.

Monday disappeared into the shadows of the alley, and Samus saw her chance. She gained momentum in her strides, and leapt into the air. The jetpack she was wearing flared up and carried her the rest of the way to the top of the nearest building. She sprinted across the rooftops, and dove off the end, flipping over and over in the air until she landed in the sand, and spun to see no one in the alley.

Her weapon hovered in midair for a second before she lowered it. Monday hadn't left the alley, and he hadn't doubled back. She let her helmet analyse the contents of the alley meticulously.

_Sand, Rock, Blaster. Blaster. Stormtrooper Class, taken during the assault on the Hangman. Confirmed._

His blaster had fallen next to a blast door for a service closet. She tapped at the control panel and the door opened, inside was Danse Monday, a look of fear on his face and a hand clasped over his mouth. Before Samus could see who owned the hand, a jet of fire hit her full in the face. While doing no damage, it blinded her for a brief second, and when her vision cleared, all she saw was the other hunter's silhouette, flying out of the alley and into the sun. She leapt at the nearest wall, then at the opposite, and back again, building momentum while her jetpack charged. When the walls ran out and became rooftops, green fire burst out of her back and she was catapulted forward, but only high enough that her fingers slid across the other hunter's foot. In her mind, she called for her ship, and her Varia suit provided. From one direction came her wide, low golden chariot, and from the other came a vertical, hideous unsightly ship, that rotated until it was horizontal, and then opened up a cargo hold from its lower parts. The other hunter disappeared into his ship as Samus clambered into hers.

Inside the icy cargo hold of the _Slave I, _Boba Fett threw his prey onto the floor, and tied him up in frosted chains. When Monday struggled, Boba punched him square in the nose, and he fell back down, his red blood contrasting with the icy blue of his surroundings. Monday's eyes fluttered, and Boba grabbed him by the chin, just enough that it didn't snap his jaw. Boba's voice was gruff, and without emotion.

"Where are the rest of you?" He growled.

"Tree-Treeda is on Coruscant" Monday spluttered, the mist of his breath laced with blood.

Boba dropped his face and walked across his ship, through his living quarters and into his bridge. It was his haven, two seats, a confined space, and enough weapons to level the Naboo capital. He levelled his ship and set the coordinates for Coruscant. At that moment, two shots rang out on his right flank, thankfully blocked by his shields. He spun in the air and readied his weapons. The twin cannons folded out and he fired at the small craft currently circling him. His blasts missed and Samus went behind him, trying to find a fault in his shields. Finding that his thrusters were well defended, she decided to concentrate her fire on this point. Until two rockets, bearing streams of blue energy flew towards her, forcing her into defensive manoeuvres.

She spun around the enemy craft, and Boba began firing his cannons again. She was forced to dodge again and again, as Boba rotated in place, until the console in front of him beeped. He looked down, his plan had worked. He was now facing Coruscant; it was just a few light-years away. He punched light-speed and broke the sound barrier before Samus had even realised what had happened. He was gaining speed regularly, the stars blurring past him. He was certain that little craft he had encountered couldn't do nearly this speed, and as he pulled back the heavy lever by his left, and Coruscant faded into view, he felt a familiar confidence building in him. He was truly the best at what he did.

As he entered the Coruscant atmosphere, the security forces attempted to stop him. But a quick flash of Imperial Clearance let him through easily. He couldn't risk causing a scene here, news travels fast in the underbelly, and Treeda might run before he could track him down. Thankfully, this was the Coruscant night time, and the streets would be buzzing with informants. He scanned the darkened rooftops, looking for a suitable place to land, when a cold chain wrapped itself around his throat. He struggled against the grip, but he knew it was futile; this steel was forged in one of the most feared prisons in the galaxy. Boba instead tapped the buttons on his chair arm, and the seat rotated 180 degrees in the blink of an eye. Boba's outstretched spiked boots made contact with the thigh of his attacker, Danse Monday. While Monday was reeling, Boba stood and kneed him in the gut, causing him to fall onto his back.

As Boba bent over to reclaim his prey, Monday unsheathed a slim, silver blaster and fired. Boba rolled to the side and stood up angry. That blaster had belonged to his father. He kept the pair of them crossed on the wall above his bed, as a reminder of why he did what he did. Boba dodged a second shot, and drew his own blaster rifle. He reappeared in the cockpit and fired, missing Monday, who rolled and stood, flinging a weak, shaky punch which Boba dodged with ease. Monday landed on the control panel, and just as Boba was about to throttle him, he jerked the control stick backwards and the ship shot up in the sky. Boba fell out of the cockpit, through his living quarters, and into the cold cargo bay. He expected his journey to end here, but Monday had apparently found the switch to open the backmost door, and Boba fell through, flipping and spinning in the empty Coruscant night. Boba regained his composure and activated his jetpack, banking instantly around _Slave I, _he found himself having to make a tough decision. Monday was drawing his cannons, preparing to destroy Boba there and then, and Boba had to choose between staying still and letting this madman take the ship, or blowing a hole in the vessel of his father's legacy. As it was, Boba killed power to his jetpack, and dodged the massive blasts. As he descended, the anti-vehicle rocket by his head fired, and blew open the tough screen window of the cockpit. Boba was thankful Monday hadn't found the shield controls.

Having ensured that the pirate couldn't leave the planet, Boba now focused on getting his ship back. He traced his hand across the pouches on his belt, until he found the third from the buckle at the back. He took out the remote it held. Deciding to claim this bounty alive, Boba used the less deadly of the two buttons on the remote.

Inside the ship, Danse Monday was panicking. The screen in front of him had just exploded, and he was now being chased down by the most deadly Bounty Hunter in the galaxy. He tapped on controls, trying to land the temperamental ship, when electricity riddled his body. He struggled to find meaning for the sudden pain, but all he could think of was that he was having a heart attack. The last thing he saw before blacking out was his own image reflected in the black, soulless visor of Boba Fett's helmet.

With his prisoner now locked up a lot more securely, Boba Fett landed his ship on the nearest building and stepped out to observe the damage. There was a massive gaping hole in the window, but his rival Bounty Hunter had caused no such ruin. The fees would still be immense, though, so he'd better get these three pirates, and fast. He thought of who would be the best to repair his ship as he floated down to the busy Coruscant streets.

This place, the dark alleys and shady dealings, this hadn't changed much since the fall of the Republic. Boba entered a bar he frequented here, and it was easy to tell he frequented it, because the music scratched to an end and all conversations stopped as soon as he walked in. He inclined his head as a sign of peace, and then walked to the bar. The bartender here was the son of Dexter Jettster, and he was little like his father. He was lying, cheating, conniving and a keen gambler, who owed Fett a favour and a drink.

It was the favour Fett came for today, though he took a bottle of Endorian to go. It took a little coaxing, but Jettster eventually released the location of one of his newer customers. He drank lots and spoke little, but he was intimidating, even to the huge, four armed creature. Treeda had been in three fights since he got here, one of his sparring partners had lost an arm during a match.

Fett found the apartment of Jin Treeda in the seedier part of Coruscant's capital. There was a tough door, and a simple locking mechanism beside it. Fett knelt to take a device from his shin-pouch, he jammed it roughly into the key slot of the panel, and his lock-pick beeped rhythmically. After a few seconds, the lock stopped struggling to stay shut, and a little puff of smoke signaled its defeat. The door whooshed open, and Treeda's stink hit Boba full in the face. Clothes and food long since forgotten lay of the ragged, damp carpet, and a shirtless Treeda lay on the filthy bed, a dancing-girl with purple, tattooed skin lay beside him. As Boba paced closer, one of the loose floorboards creaked beneath him. Treeda moved quickly and suddenly, pushing the girl roughly from his bed and grabbing his bedside lamp, pulling it down in an arc, like a lever. Before Boba could reach the pirate, twin thrusters exploded out of the back of his bed, and catapulted Fett back into the hall.

Treeda broke through his apartment wall and flew out into the aerial highways of Coruscant. Boba shook his head and ran towards the gaping hole, then leaped out. Gravity lost its effect after the fire began streaming from his jetpack. He wasn't as fast as Treeda, but he knew these skies well. At that second, there was a flash of gold, and Boba looked to his side. A small, metallic craft with green windows was flying alongside him. The green light preventing people from looking in the windows faded, and inside was Samus Aran; she waved and blew him a kiss playfully, then picked up speed and shot past him.

_So she wants to play, does she?_


	3. Chapter 3

The glittering, spectacular structures of Coruscant, the product of centuries tiring labour, meant little to Boba Fett as he, with Samus Aran hounding him, chased down an escape pod draped in purple velvet, fifty feet above the heads of street vendors and customers alike.

Samus barrel-rolled towards Fett, her ship spinning at frightening speed, in response, Fett killed power to his jetpack and used only momentum and timing to move in between Samus' deadly strikes. The underside of her ship moving beneath her competition, Samus gunned her takeoff engines and shot the spinning Fett into the air, then hit him with a final, devastating spin.

Hurtling towards the earth with his head spinning, Boba Fett weighed his options, Samus clearly had the superior technology, and was a cunning enemy, but he knew this planet, from the traffic of the sky-roads to the underground Empire troop-transporting subway. Below him was one of the exhaust vents for said subway, which he fired at with his wrist rockets. People simply enjoying a midnight walk ran for cover and one fell to the ground, his hands coveting his head, to avoid the blast.

Boba entered the subway and moved along the dark purple tunnel along the bed's trajectory, passing three other vents before firing on the fourth. He remerged into the street, again scaring a group of bystanders and drug-dealers, before shooting off into the sky, just in front of the bed. He killed his jetpack and somersaulted onto the soft mattress. He tore the blanket away and aimed his blaster at an empty mattress.

Boba Fett was notorious for his quick thinking, so he reeled as though he'd been struck, then dropped the blanket and jumped off the edge of the bed. For the second time in 10 minutes, Boba Fett watched as the Coruscant street rushed towards him. He only used his jetpack when the vendors' stalls had covered him. Then he looked up to see the golden ship of Samus Aran still chasing the empty bed.

Fett analysed his current position, there was a Trandoshan in these streets, wearing only his underwear, and he was probably rushing, because, as usual for prey, he was panicked and stupid. Boba leaped into the air, and before gravity could take its toll, his jetpack kicked in and he was soaring towards the nearest rooftop. Once his feet felt solid matter beneath them again, he turned and his Mandalorian visor had already zoomed in, to help him with scanning the crowd for his scaly target.

As Samus Aran primed her stun beams for the occupants of the furniture soaring through Coruscant, she noticed a small light, like fire, burning in her rear vision readout. It caught her attention, so she stayed her hand, watching it before it landed on a rooftop and Boba Fett turned to scan the crowd. She looked at him and then back to the bed, wondering why he wasn't giving chase. She had a hunch, so she stopped her ship and hovered in midair. Before the bed left her scan range, she had her computer search for life signs on the velvet getaway vehicle. As she expected, it came back negative. Samus fired her engines, building momentum, before turning in an arc and circling back to confront Fett.

Boba saw the turn and was instantly prepared for a battle with another armoured Bounty Hunter. However, before they could even get the chance to tango, two red bolts of energy collided with Samus' ship and exploded on impact. Her ship veered out of control and collided with the building underneath Boba, which shook violently, almost threatening to topple.

Looking to see the ship that had downed Samus Aran, Fett was surprised to see his own ship, _Slave I_, hovering between the Coruscant skyscrapers, and on his onboard camera that he viewed on his helmet, he saw the scarred face of Danse Monday in the pilot's chair, he had escaped again.

Fett was growing tired of his refusal to be captured, and leaped off the rooftop, flying towards his stolen ship. _Slave I's _blasters were huge and inaccurate without lots of practise. It took no effort to dodge Monday's slow, unimaginative blast pattern to reach him. As soon as Fett was in front of Monday, the pirate drew his father's pistols and fired. Boba had to drop his jetpack and clutched onto the spaces between _Slave I's _plates, the nearest thing he could grab.

Sixth pouch from the right this time, for his stun grenades, which he threw two of into his cockpit, before jumping to draw Monday's fire, as soon as the scarred pirate lifted Jango Fett's blaster to fire, the knockout gas from the stun grenades began seeping into the cockpit. Monday stood and ran into Fett's living quarters, his hand covering his mouth and nose. Boba fired his jetpack up and followed Monday in, losing distance between them, Boba turned and kicked Monday in the back at 40mph, which sent him flying into the closed door of the cargo bay.

Boba Fett landed, drew his rifle and advanced towards his stunned nemesis. But Monday spun fast and jammed a knife into Boba's shoulder. He twisted it and pulled it out, then moved to stab Fett again.

"Do you know," Monday roared, his hand being gradually more covered in Boba's blood, "how tired I am of being frozen, Fett?"

Boba fell to the ground and dragged himself with his one working hand into the cockpit. There he saw it, packed away in the corner, his disintegrator. Fett grabbed the heavy piece of machinery and spun, every muscle in his body groaning in protest. He aimed the massive iron cannon at the advancing Monday, who stopped instantly. Vader would have to specify no disintegrations next time.

The metallic dragon spewed a ball of concentrated fire, crashing into Monday's raised arm, which turned into stone, then burst into ash, wisps of spark moving through the gray cloud, followed close by Monday's scream of pain. Boba stood and ran towards the source of the noise, using no finesse, skill or class, only raw animal ramming power.

Boba grabbed the knife from Monday's hands and threw it at the control panel to the cargo hold, which opened up and Monday staggered in. Boba spun and launched his grappling hook, figuring he'd pay Monday back for the little trip he sent him on a few hours before. The hook spun around the control stick and Boba pulled before Monday could regain composure, causing the ship to fly up into the air and Monday to fly backwards (now downwards).

Suspended in midair, Boba gritted his teeth and moved his limp, bleeding arm up towards the wrist that now supported his entire body, and turned the nob on the grappling hook controls, giving him three more feet of cable, now just inside of the cargo hold, Boba swung gently side to side, making his way over to the control panel on the wall beside the door.

His spine cracked and his entire body bruised, Danse Monday's eyes wanted nothing more than to shut, but his mind told him that the second his eyes closed would be his last, and so he struggled them open. He saw Boba Fett, slowly but surely making his way to the controls for this frozen hell. When Fett finally reached them, Monday sat forward, but being pressed up against the wall by gravity itself was a hard thing to fight against, and so he settled for a strangled "No." as Boba Fett turned down the temperature in the room and cold, white frost spread across Monday's open lips.

The frost was moving quickly, anything not out of the room would be caught and frozen there. Monday was subdued, there was no doubt about that. So Fett, with only one working arm, struggled through the gaping doorway and lay flat on the wall, breathing heavily even as the frost continued to climb into his living quarters. He was all but unconscious when he opened his eyes to see the crystaline white smear across the wall, so he punched down hard with a groan on the door controls, and it locked the ice back where it belonged.

Raising himself to one knee, Boba Fett aligned his leg with expert precision, and the dart lauchers in his kneepads fired, hitting the control stick and jerking the ship forward. Fett rolled from the wall onto the floor and into the cockpit, then stood up with a sore head and a stiff neck. His command station beeped too loudly for his taste, and so, irritably, he pressed the answer button.

Greeting him was the ugly, angry face of Xandru Jettster, who looked no happier to see Boba than Boba was to see him.

"What is it, Jettster?" Boba grumbled

"Our deal, Boba." The Besalisk growled, he was clearly having some problems, but then, so was Boba, so he honestly didn't care.

"Our deal is done, you owed me information and a drink, I found Treeda's hiding spot, we're done."

Boba reached for the cut-off button.

"Did you find Treeda?" Xandru interrupted.

Boba looked up at him, intrigued. Xandru didn't speak, he simply turned the camera, and there, in the middle of Jettster's bar, was the half-clothed Trandoshan engineer, Jin Treeda. He was arguing with another drinker, and he was getting angry. Boba didn't wait for the fight to turn ugly. He planted himself in his seat, turned his ship around, and headed for his bounty.

Boba was tired, so he sent a message to the best repairman on Coruscant, telling him what he needed and for when. In a marvelously fortuitous show of fear, the repairman cleared his schedule in order to deal with the _Slave I_ thouroughly.

Boba took a floating stretcher from his ship and walked, unnoticed in the Coruscant night time, all the way to Jettster's bar. Upon arriving, he formulated a plan that would take as little effort as possible, so he left the stretcher behind and made his way through the steady stream of people leaving the bar, before finding the main event.

Jin Treeda had a broken glass bottle in his hand, and a tatooed human under his opposite arm. Xandru Jettster was trying to calm him down, but to no avail. Cooly and with little effort, Boba Fett stalked behind Treeda, then grabbed him under the chin, pulled his head back, and shot him in the foot.

Treeda dropped his weapon and his hostage and turned, angry and drunk, to face Fett. But before he could even bare his teeth at the Bounty Hunter, Boba's fist knocked Treeda into a table behind him, and he was unconscious before he hit the floor. Boba tapped his gauntlet and the stretcher moved slowly intp the room, beeping rhythmically. Boba and Jettster loaded Treeda onto the stretcher, Jettster thanked him, and Boba left.

It had been a long, trying day, and as dawn broke along Coruscant's horizon, Boba was glad that he could leave this planet soon enough. Within the hour he would have a refurbished ship, two thirds of his Bounty, and the location of Kalc Commerse, the third.

Of course, the best laid plans often go awry, and before Boba had even left the dank, musty alley on which Jettster's bar was built, he sensed her. And lo and behold, as he tuned he saw the bronze and crimson armour of Samus Aran, her weapon primed, striding towards him.

_This is going to be a long hunt._

**Author's Note: **_**Sorry, fans (If I have any) but this may be my last update to this story for a while. My Microsoft Office has refused to work, and so the last half of this chapter was done with Google Docs (btw, thanks to Google. You may have screwed YouTube up, but you come through when it counts!) **_

_**So if anyone can recommend a new (prefferably free) writing software, I would be grateful!**_


	4. Chapter 4

Boba Fett raised both his hands in surrender.

Samus Aran, a heavily armoured Bounty Hunter who had, up till now, been losing this competition, now held the upper hand, as she had Fett at gunpoint, and Jin Treeda, the Trandoshan terrorist, unconscious on a gurney.

"I see you've gift-wrapped him for me. Thanks very much." Samus smiled beneath her helmet.

"Oh, he may be wrapped, sister," Fett's harsh, gravelly voice sounded through his helmet filters, "but he's no gift."

Samus fired, an instinctive reaction to a line like that, but missed as Fett jumped onto the gurney and pressed the controls on his wrist. The stretcher shot up into the air, leaving Samus behind to curse under her breath.

Samus leapt against a wall of the alley, seeing all to well the familiarity of the situation, as she, yet again, built up momentum and power in her jetpack. As Boba Fett began racing across the rooftops of Coruscant, Aran backflipped in front of him, and held out her armoured boot. Treeda's stretcher crashed to a halt, but Fett had already sparked up his own jetpack, launching himself into Samus.

As the two of them rolled across the cold concrete, Fett drove hit after hit into Samus' guarded face, doing little damage, but ringing her brain like a bell. Growing weary, Samus kicked him off her, and aimed her arm-mounted cannon at him again. Fett had landed on his feet, and had his rifle already in his hands, prepared to fire just as soon as she did.

The two stared each other down for the longest time, neither one willing to fire first, for fear that the others blast could be more damaging. As beads of stifling sweat began to form on their armoured foreheads, Jin Treeda groaned loudly. Both Samus and Boba turned their heads to look, but only Samus had sprung into action, her robotic Varia suit carrying her across the rooftop to her prey.

The very second Samus laid a hand on the stretcher however, it shot off at top speed, carrying her with it. Using its Anti-Gravity technology, the gurney shot down the sheer face of the Coruscant building, Samus having nothing to hold onto as automatic seatbelts locked Treeda into place. But before they impacted on the bustling, crowded metropolis below, the stretcher beeped, and began climbing the building, again, at breakneck speeds.

Samus was flipped over the bed, and only managed to hold on by one of the seatbelts, which she caught just in time. As they approached the rooftop again, Samus let go, and her enhanced, robotic fingers dug into the hard concrete wall, holding her in place. As the stretcher went up and over the edge, she could see the figure of Boba Fett, taking his hand off the gurney controls and chuckling icily as he believed his competition's corpse was now being gawked at by the shocked spectators below.

As he turned, the gurney automatically following him, Samus' boots found purchase in the wall and she leapt up. She fired a yellow-coloured grapple beam at Fett, catching him by his jetpack before she pulled him off of the building and onto another one, opposite, away from their shared prey.

Now it was Samus who was in control. She whipped Boba into the harsh rooftop, and it showed him to mercy. She then landed beside him, and kicked him hard as he tried to stand. Boba skidded across the rooftop, and landed with a groan. Samus gripped her emerald cannon, and changed the setting to an altogether deadlier blast.

As she took aim, Fett rolled out of the way of the blast, and moved to his knees, two Thermal Detonators already in his hands. He threw them both at Samus, and the Varia armour's quick reflexes allowed her to grab one in mid-air, but the second stuck to her armour and exploded, sending her back to the opposite side of the rooftop.

She rolled as she fell, and was up again in a flash. Fett, too, stood, and regarded her with something akin to fascination. Both coming to the same conclusion, they both fired up their jetpacks at exactly the same time, closing the distance between each other in seconds. Samus moved first, her armour lending to her speed, as she lashed out a powerful kick to Fett's shoulder. The same shoulder that Monday had stabbed, repeatedly, earlier that night.

Boba was driven back a half-step, but brought his weapon hand up despite his pain. He fired, and, with a lot of luck, his shot made contact, and Samus was also put on the defensive. Boba put all his weight into a punch to follow his shot, but Samus was able to block it with her bulky hand-cannon. Her patience waning, she gripped him by the scruff with her free hand and lifted him high into the air, planning to throw him into the rooftop again. But before she could, her oxygen was cut off by his grappling-rope around her neck.

Samus let go of him, but Fett wasn't as relenting, he pulled harder and harder until her Varia armour was able to compensate, the area around her neck becoming thicker and more spacious, allowing her to breathe. She drove an elbow into Fett's ribcage, and he staggered back. She advanced on him, but a small dart-blaster on his knee-pad fired, and shattered the servos in her own knee, causing her armour to freeze up to stop her from falling.

Fett was practically panting as he pressed a button on his gauntlet, and the gurney shot across the Coruscant night and into Samus' stalled form. She was tossed onto the roof, and before she could stand again, Boba had his blaster on her.

"Don't stand again. It won't do you any good."

Samus Aran was a lot of things, but very few have called her pliable. She fired up her jetpack at the same time her grapple-blast gripped Treeda's unconscious body, and she pulled him from the gurney before disappearing off the side of the building silently.

Fett stood there for a second, dazed. It took him a moment to realize exactly what had happened, but he'd guessed it, even before Samus' ship rose up, the golden plating catching the purple-red lights of Coruscant so well. Samus was standing on the hull, loading Treeda into the cockpit, a pair of manacles already fastened onto his huge hands, and a plate of steel fitted over his reptilian jaws. Samus gave one last look to the Mandalorian, before her ship rose steadily higher, and disappeared out of Coruscant before Fett could summon the _Slave I_, or anything with the stopping power to hold her here any longer.

Treeda was not too heavy a sleeper to have stayed unconscious after being yanked through mid-air like that, so his Trandoshan eyes were fully open and glaring at Samus Aran as she sat in her chair, which rotated to face him, crouched in the back of a cramped cockpit. She reached out with one brass finger, and touched the steel muzzle that held his mouth shut, before bringing that hand to her own face, and removing her red helmet. Underneath, Treeda was surprised to see, was no hardened scoundrel of the Outer Rim, but a pretty little blonde, who looked just good enough to eat.

Treeda snarled as his jaws shot towards her rosy flesh, but gagged as they met nothing but metal. Samus Aran's forearm was in between his now cracked teeth, as she held him at bay without even breaking a sweat.

"Now, Jin." Samus cooed, "I went through a lot of trouble to get you here, and we are going to have a nice, civil talk about your friend, Kalc Commerse, and what he's been doing with himself lately."

Jin Treeda whimpered.

**Holy crap, it has been a good while since I've been on .**

I've thought about tackling this chapter a couple of times, but could never think of where the story would go after this. Now, with a bit of thought behind it, I present you with, finally, Chapter 4.

Thanks to anyone who is still reading this, and hello to any new dudes. 


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